CHUCK CARLTON'S BOWL PROJECTIONS: As the regular season winds down, staff writer Chuck Carlton projects selected bowl matchups of national and regional interest. (NOTE: The Big 12 will not have enough eligible teams to meet its commitment to the Pinstripe Bowl.)

AUSTIN — The numbers indicate Texas will face three teams with a combined record of 23-4 to close the regular season.

The injury report shows six former starters sidelined, including the No. 1 quarterback (David Ash), the team’s leading rusher (Johnathan Gray) and its best linebacker (Jordan Hicks).

Logic says the Longhorns shouldn’t be where they are now, undefeated in the Big 12 and still with viable hopes of a Tostitos Fiesta Bowl bid in the BCS. Yet here Texas (7-2, 6-0 Big 12) stands going into Saturday’s game with BCS No. 12 Oklahoma State (8-1, 5-1).

Coach Mack Brown reinforced the situation in his address to the team Sunday after surviving overtime at West Virginia, 47-40.

“We tell them it’s a real goal now,” Brown said Monday. “What you set in January is three games away. It’s real now. It wasn’t at 1-2. It wasn’t at 4-2. It’s real right now. You have a chance.”

To continue to have a chance, Brown said, Texas needs to be better than it was at West Virginia and maybe better than it has been in any game this season. Oklahoma State is the biggest test so far of Texas’ mojo.

“It’s not false confidence,” said quarterback Case McCoy, who led his led fourth successful fourth-quarterback comeback at West Virginia.

The whole back-from-the-brink mentality has taken on special meeting with the season-ending injuries to Gray (Achilles’ tendon) and defensive tackle Chris Whaley (knee). Each addressed the team after West Virginia, a scene that Brown called the best locker-room meeting that he had witnessed.

Asked what his message was, Gray, the former Aledo standout, said: “Stay hungry, stay humble, and keep your eye on the prize and don’t let these injuries distract you.”

His injury means more snaps for Joe Bergeron and Jalen Overstreet at tailback backing up Malcolm Brown.

And an emotional Desmond Jackson promised to make Whaley proud when he replaced him at defensive tackle.

Even now, Gray and Whaley have a role.

Mack Brown is bending one of his longstanding rules by having the two injured players join the team at its hotel before Saturday’s game.

“We just haven’t done that before in my past, but we’re doing it because we need those guys,” he said. “We need them on the sideline, we need them in the meetings, and we need them with their coaches.”

Even with the injuries, players keep delivering. A players-only meeting after the early-season loss to Ole Miss helped mend a team that seemed to be fraying after only three games, players said.

”We got our brothers together, told them what we needed to get done, what needed to change, and we fixed it,” said senior defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat, who has seven sacks in his last seven games.

Defensive Quandre Diggs said each player is aware that one play can immediately thrust him from reserve to key contributor.

“Every time we lose those guys we come back stronger,” center Dominic Espinosa said. “I don’t know what it is or where it’s coming from, but it’s working.”

One example: sophomore fullback Alex De La Torre of Denton Ryan, who scored the winning touchdown at West Virginia on his first career reception. It was the same short pass that went awry against Oklahoma on fourth down.

“We all earn our scholarship here,” De La Torre said. “We all come here to play. When the time comes, we’ve got guys who can step up and keep that same level of play.”

Follow Chuck Carlton on Twitter at ChuckCarltonDMN

The home stretch

The records of the remaining opponents for the top three teams in the Big 12:

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